Subh al-Asha fi Sinaat al-Insha
- Author died
- 821 AH
- Editions
- t al-Ilmiyya
Subh al-A'sha fi Sina'at al-Insha (Dawn for the Night-Blind Regarding the Art of Chancery Writing), also titled Subh al-A'sha fi Kitabat al-Insha, is a monumental 14-volume Arabic administrative encyclopedia compiled by the Egyptian scholar and scribe al-Qalqashandi (756–821 AH / 1355–1418 CE) . Written to serve as an exhaustive reference manual for chancery officials, it documents state administration, geography, diplomacy, epistolography, and court ceremonial during the Mamluk Sultanate and earlier Islamic eras .
Background and Purpose
Al-Qalqashandi composed the work drawing upon his administrative experience in the chancery bureau (Diwan al-Insha') during the reign of Sultan al-Zahir Barquq, as well as his direct access to official archives, state documents, and classical treatises . His stated goal was to gather into a unified manual all the scattered branches of knowledge, diplomatic conventions, and practical skills that a professional secretary (katib) required to execute official correspondence and statecraft without needing recourse to disparate libraries .
Structure and Scope
The encyclopedia comprises an introduction (muqaddima), ten extensive discourses (maqalat), and an epilogue (khatima), spanning fourteen volumes and around seven thousand pages :
- Introduction: Explores the virtue of the pen and writing, the superiority of prose over poetry, the qualifications and professional ethics of scribes, and the institutional history and hierarchy of the chancery bureau in Islam and Mamluk Egypt .
- First Discourse: Details the foundational education and physical implements of a scribe, including linguistic sciences, grammar, rhetoric, Arabic script, calligraphy, types of paper, pens, and ink formulas .
- Second Discourse: Dedicated to geography and kingdoms (al-masalik wa-al-mamalik), detailing the historical caliphates, the physical and political geography of Egypt, Syria, the Arabian Peninsula, and neighboring African, Asian, and European realms .
- Third Discourse: Covers shared elements in official documents, such as sovereign titles, honorifics, formal address, document summaries, invocations, and closing formulas .
- Fourth Discourse: Treats official correspondence (mukatabat) across history, from the letters of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and early caliphs to Mamluk diplomatic relations with Muslim rulers, nomadic tribes, and foreign monarchs .
- Fifth Discourse: Focuses on diplomas of investiture (wilayat), royal appointment decrees (taqalid and marasim), and assignments of administrative, military, and judicial offices .
- Sixth Discourse: Examines religious testaments, fiscal and legal exemptions, divorces, and calendar conversions .
- Seventh Discourse: Concerns administrative and financial contracts (muqata'at) .
- Eighth Discourse: Addresses royal covenants and formal oaths of loyalty (ayman) .
- Ninth Discourse: Treats peace treaties, truces, and the annulment of pacts ('uqud al-sulh wa-al-fusukh) .
- Tenth Discourse: Details various literary genres and rhetorical exercises practiced by chancery scribes .
- Epilogue: Reviews non-scribal logistical operations linked to the chancery, including the postal network (al-barid), postal pigeon towers (al-hamam al-zajil), the transport of mountain snow from Syria to Egypt, and fire beacons (manawir) for military reconnaissance .
Sources and Scholarly Value
The work incorporates substantial sections and whole texts of earlier administrative classics, notably al-Ta'rif bi-al-Mustalah al-Sharif by Ibn Fadl Allah al-Umari and Ma'alim al-Kitaba by Ibn Shith al-Qurashi, preserving materials from older works that are otherwise lost or unpublished . It serves as an essential historical resource for Mamluk socioeconomic history, providing detailed data on coinage, weights, measures, administrative terminology, and around 2,500 specialized technical terms that are rarely found in traditional chronicle literature .
Publication History
The work was first printed in Cairo by al-Matba'a al-Amiriyya under the auspices of Dar al-Kutub between 1910 and 1920 in fourteen volumes . It was later reissued in facsimile by the Egyptian General Organization for Authorship, Translation, Printing, and Publishing in 1963 .
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